Special Report: Is America the sick man of the globe?

[Warren Stupidity]

(Reuters) - Not long ago, if you wanted steak for lunch at the Texan Restaurant, less than two minutes drive from the Nexteer Automotive assembly plant, you had to be in the door by 11 o'clock in the morning. If you arrived any later, you joined a long line with other laggards and waited for a table to open up.

...

Asked how the decline in the U.S. auto industry has affected the local economy, Tammy Maynard, a waitress here since 1988, waved a hand around at the empty tables and said: "You're looking at it, sugar."

....

In the recent midterm elections Democrats were pummeled less than two years after President Barack Obama's triumphal arrival in Washington and American voters remain in a volatile mood. Steven Schier, a politics professor at Carleton College in Minnesota, said unless the job mess is repaired more wild swings lie ahead.

"It's entirely possible we're going to see voters flip the switch every two years until both Republicans and Democrats get the message," he said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BF28720101216?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a49:g43:r1:c0.265060:b40530768:z0

[FreakinDJ]

1. voters flip the switch every two years until both Republicans and Democrats get the message

thats what I'm thinking too

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Guess that would not be the worst thig int he world. Perhaps it would allow the possibility of a

viable third party...Progressive perhaps??

[BrklynLiberal]

2. and is very infectious, and spreading it all around.

[iamjoy]

4. They Will Never Get The Message

Our leaders will never "get" the message, because the message is mixed. Also, it is easy to confuse the loudest and most prominent voices for the "most" voices.

Senior citizens complain about government deficits and get angry when their social security isn't increased. There are neo-conservatives who bitch about government involvement and how government is too big but don't mind a big military. Libertarians proclaim if the government did less, we'd all be better - ignoring the reality that the world has changed in two-hundred years and we have had to change to prosper. We Liberals have our inconsistencies and naivetes too.

Fix unemployment. How? Should we go with protectionism because so many of our jobs are going overseas? Some say yes, others say that will lead to a trade war and we will lose more than we gain. Others say it is the labor expenses and regulations that make it more economical for jobs to be done overseas. Do they really think getting rid of minimum wage will make our country wealthy? Do they really want to live next to a toxic site?

So, what message is the government supposed to get?

[Hawkowl]

5. The leaders don't care

Because the "leaders" don't lose. Corporations and the super rich still get their tax cuts and are above prosecution. Things are going to get much, much worse before anyone gets any message. I think we are in for an economic downturn that will make the Great Depression look like a week at Disneyland.

[truedelphi]

6. It's about the money and 97% of the literate public

Doesn't understand what has gone on.

The Bush-inspired TARP for the Biggest of the Banks was 700 Billion. It is even possible that fifty percent of that money will be paid back.

However, and of much GREATER IMPORTANCE! -- over the last two years, some ELEVEN TRILLION bucks and counting has been handed out. Much of this is in the form of "digitized money" that goes to back accounts for the bankers.

We and our children and our grand children and perhaps even our great grand children are responsible for this huge transfer of wealth - the "Too Big To Fail" Crowd received the lucre, but we tax payers will end up receiving either a tax bill or ghastly inflation to cover this stupidity.